Tohoku { Aomori - 青森} ～the white city～

The light up at the Aomori Bay Bridge 

Aomori is the central city of the Aomori Prefecture. It is famous for its summer Suima festival. In ancient times, the indigenous clan Ainu named this small fishing village as the Zenzoku, meaning the protrusing island. In 1585, the city is opened as a trading port with Edo, i.e. Tokyo.

What I find very useful is the Official Tourist Page>> that includes various suggested travelling route around Aoomori city and surrounding, based on seasons, day trips, 2 to 3 night's trip and so on :)

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Right next to the JR exit, this tourist map gives you a very brief but useful guide around the city. The most interesting route is the blue one.

I was quite overwhelmed by the height of the roadside snow.... But you could be super sure that driving around Aomori prefecture is so safe that snow is nicely removed.

There's loads of little snowman around, where some of them are painted and made by the local children 

I dont know if this looks anyhow familiar to you, but serious i saw this from a anime in the 90s.

This sculpture could be found around the city, how many of this could you spot?

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You could walk up to the Aomori expressway. Feel the breeze and listen to the sea waves. 

The Aomori Prefecture Tourist Centre in the day time.

Actually there's not much in this centre. Ground floor is mostly souvenir and food stalls.

But this apple pie is a must try - it simply smells so good in distance. 

Sanmisen performance

1st floor is a free eco museum 

And there's also a small specimen of the suima cart

And exhibition of spenic spots around the prefecture.

A louvre outside the centre lol

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The most important part of the tourist centre is the observation deck, overlooking the city and the Seikan Memorial Ship Hakkoda.

Snow Slide next to the tourist centre

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The footbridge linkage to the Aomori expressway.

The red contemporary building is the Suima Museum WARASS

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The Seikan Memorial Ship Hakkoda

Get change and buy an apple from the old lady lol

On the 1st deck, it is a display of Aomori in the old times, where trading of fruits and vegetable, fish and grocery is pretty active with Tokyo.

The outter deck is entirely covered with snow....

The control room

The pilot office and bedroom 

A model illustrating the overnight sleeping deck

The lower deck of the ship is the cargo storage.

 you could even find train and tracks inside ;D

Reminds me of the movie Divergent where people jump off the train like this lol

The train track inside the ferry

engine control room~~

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Never thought there is also a light up at the open ground outside the memorial ship.

I should have come here yesterday!!

A-Factory

Souvenir shop specially for apples

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Welcoming you to the Suima Museum is a tunnel with detail illustration of history and creation of Suima Cart.

And various display of Suima Cart

Seeing these could simply inspire you with its level of details and enormous scale

There's also a detail step to step example of creating different part of the Suima - from hands, feet, head to fire etc.

At particular time, theres also Suima muaic performance and engagement activity

And this is the schedule

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Back to the main street is aligned with local shops.

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Near to the Suima Museum, there is a famous restaurant named the House of Scallops 帆立小屋

You could choose boiled, BBQ or sashimi.

And the best one is eating it fresh as sashimi♡

Special about this shop is the "fishing" opportunity of the scallops. The more you get in 1 minute, the more you can eat from ¥５００. The highest record from the shop is 16.

Tips for this is avoid using strength, but dropping the hook slowly to the dent on the scallop and pulling up slowing. 

I have successfully fished one and the shop keeper is so nice to give us an extra one ♡

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Behind the Aomori main street is the fish and vegetable centre. There's 2 centre and only the one on the right with the red banner serves fresh food

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Time arrangement

One whole day~

Access 

Shinkansan only links with Shin-Aomori station, hence you have to take a train to Aomori station - the main city centre. 

It is better to check the train schedule beforehand to avoid time wasted in waiting the next train. 

On the other hand, the tourist spots are quite close to each other and near to the JR station, you could just walk through everything.

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